Partner Spotlight: Q&A With Tim Sleath, Exponential

Data has revolutionized our industry, giving marketers new and innovative tools to achieve their goals. We invited Tim Sleath, VP of Product Management at Exponential, to discuss the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities, how they’re working with location data to inform & guide their strategic planning decisions, and of course…Italian food dishes!

Can you give a brief overview of your company?

Exponential has been around since 2001 and has always had a goal of achieving the best possible performance for brand advertisers (whether that performance is conversions or brand engagement measured some other way). We have built our proprietary tech stack in partnership with thousands of publishers to provide a unique offering that delivers compelling experiences and performance efficiently, in a brand-safe environment. We are happy to work with partners such as Cuebiq, who excel in their field and enrich what we can do for clients.

What do you think are data-driven marketers’ biggest challenges?

Eliminating noise. Advertising is inherently noisy given the thousands of daily nudges affecting consumers as they move down, up and between funnels for different advertisers (even if we might draw one simple funnel to make it look easy!) One challenge is determining whether or not a new solution is helping to filter that noise or amplify it. I think this question has driven the desire to unify activity in a single platform. Marketers and their agencies always need to be satisfied that their platforms are providing the best possible results for the brand.

In your opinion, which recent tech advancements have had the biggest impact on our industry?

I’m pleased with the recent directions to combat fraud and improve user experiences online – the move to https everywhere, the work that TAG, JICWEBS etc. are doing, the NAI’s mobile guidelines, the nascent BetterAds program, and the phasing-out of Flash – all work to restore the quality and trust which were eroded in previous years by the rush to programmatic and short-term revenue. We’ve always taken a long-term view based on doing good for brands while doing right by publishers (and their users).

Measuring offline impact of online advertising has been a challenge for a number of years, and this helps us get another step closer to understanding how our ads impact offline user behavior. Using measurement alongside the offline location-based data means we are able to better understand and reach the right consumers, regardless of whether or not their activities are online.

What do you value most about your relationship with Cuebiq?

Offline location data is a rapidly growing and changing area, and with Cuebiq’s help, we are able to build out more comprehensive user profiles and drive additional offline footfall. Cuebiq is also extremely helpful in coming up with new ideas or tweaking solutions to help us achieve what we need for our clients.

What’s your favorite Italian food?

Too much choice! I like pretty much every kind of pizza, pasta, love risotto, tiramisu, panettone – fabulous. I am partial to a veal Alla Milanese if I see it on the menu.